Carrier IQ, Samsung and HTC get hit with class-action lawsuits

The moment the full extent of Carrier IQ's possible privacy violations came to light, I swear I could hear a dozen attorneys packing their briefcases and lacing up their running shoes. The fastest represent Erin Janek, who's suing HTC and Carrier IQ for violating the Federal Wiretap Act in St. Louis. Paid Content reports that a second lawsuit is being filed against Samsung and Carrier IQ in Chicago.

Carrier IQ, purveyor of controversial logging software to carriers (not device makers), has been in increasingly hot water for the last two weeks. After threatening a security researcher with legal action for exposing their extremely intensive logging software, the company denied that its product recorded keystrokes, visited websites, call logs and other personal information. Trevor Eckhart proved them wrong in a damning video, spurring hundreds of tech websites to investigate the presence of Carrier IQ software on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone devices across The Now Network, AT&T, T-Mobile and numerous international carriers. Carrier IQ and its partners claim that while data is sent across wireless networks, it isn't recorded or stored, a claim that has yet to be demonstrably proven.

Consumers aren't the only ones balking. Senator Al Franken sent Carrier IQ a letter demanding answers on possible violations of several federal laws, including the same wiretap law. Carrier IQ's initial responses have been tepid, repeating the line that they don't keep the information taken. The software is designed to allow carriers to identify and fix network problems, but the inherent privacy violations in its operational nature are drawing scorn from consumer and privacy advocates around the world. You can test your own device for Carrier IQ software with this handy app.